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Practical Suggestions 

I. In School Government 
2. On Success 

...BY... 

JAMES H. PENNIMAN 




SYKACUSE, N. Y. 

C. W. BAEDEEN, PUBLISHER 
1905 



Copyright, 1905, bt C. W. Bardeen 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

NOV 27 1905 

i__^ Copyiieht Entry ^ 
CLASS ex. XXc. No. 

/ 3 a/79 

COPY B. 



Practical Suggestions in School 
Government 

While practical experience and a knowl- 
edge of the principles of pedagogy are of 
great value in the training of the teacher, 
it is doubtful whether a person with a nerv- 
ous, and irritable disposition can ever be 
successful. The calm, magnetic tempera- 
ment, the keen interest which makes the 
imparting of information a pleasure, the 
reserve of mental power that enables one to' 
go through a long hard day with unwearied 
spirit and everlasting good nature — all these 
may be cultivated, but they cannot be 
created, and unless a teacher has begun hi& 
apprenticeship with a broad human sympa- 
thy for those under his charge, the sooner 
he stops trying to teach and goes into some 
other business, the better. There is no- 
drudgery worse than the perfunctory work 
of a man who has no love for his pupils ; but 
when they feel that their master takes a 

(5) 



6 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

kindly personal interest in them, and that 
they are fellow-workers with him in the at- 
tainment of a definite and worthy end, then 
the school atmosphere is a true inspiration, 
and school work ceases to be a task and be- 
comes a pleasure. 

That teachers sometimes fail while em- 
ploying the best methods proves that good 
instruction depends on ability and tempera- 
ment as well as on principles and methods. 
The man who was the most thoroughly 
versed in the theory of pedagogy of anyone 
I ever knew could not take charge of a class 
of usually well-behaved boys for ten minutes 
without disorder caused by his lack of tact, 
and nervousness. As some persons can 
handle a swarm of bees with no difficulty, 
while others irritate it without apparent 
cause, so some teachers can preserve per- 
fect order with hardly any punishments, 
while others can accomplish nothing even 
with the most severe penalties. 

The best discipline is obtained by a kind 
and sympathetic firmness, joined to a feel- 
ing of confidence which the pupils must be 
taught to feel in the absolute fair-minded- 



IN SCHOOL GOVERNMENT / 

ness of their teacher. This does not always 
mean that treatment which answers for one 
offence and for one pnpil will do when the 
same offence is committed by another, but 
that each difficulty must be settled as it 
arises with justice guided by a knowledge 
of the springs of action which govern youth. 

Never tolerate any open disorder, or try 
to teach when there is noise or confusion. 
Wait until you have secured quiet atten- 
tion. The best way to maintain order is to 
keep all busy and interested. When an 
offence is not a very open one, and others 
are not disturbed by it, it is often well to 
call the pupil up for a word of quiet admoni- 
tion after the class. Do not get into the 
habit of punishing for every trifling fault ; 
a word of kind reproof, " I wouldn't do 
that, John," is sometimes more effective 
than punishment. Sympathy and good 
nature are most powerful factors in main- 
taining discipline, when they are combined 
with justice and firmness. 

Exercise great judgment in what you tell 
your pupils to do, and do not give instruc- 
tions that may lead to needless conflict of 



8 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

authority; but, if you have told a scholar 
point blank to do a thing, have him do it, 
or leave the school. It is fatal to discipline 
to give an order and then allow it to be disre- 
garded. As a skilful chess-player forsees 
the consequences of an intended move 
through a series of moves to follow, so a 
skilful teacher foresees the result of a given 
course of action and shapes his directions 
accordingly. Such a teacher will check in- 
cipient disorder before an ordinary observer 
would know that any existed. A thought- 
less man, for instance, will seat two trouble- 
some boys together, and then deluge them 
with demerit marks, when, by simply put- 
ting each next to a quiet boy, all trouble 
might be averted. Nervous children some- 
times get into a hysterical state when pun- 
ishment has no effect on them, or perhaps 
gives rise to increased disorder. The dis- 
tinction between such a case and that of 
stuborn and wilful defiance of authority is 
very marked ; the latter should be put down 
with a strong hand, while the overwrought 
hysterical child should be quieted, and al- 
lowed a little time to come to his senses. 



IN SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 9"^ 

The experienced teacher makes a sort of in- 
tuitive diagnosis, like the experienced phy- 
sician and always considers the intention 
behind the action; a harmless trifle done 
with malicious intent is more reprehensible 
than considerable thoughtless disorder. 

A bad effect is invariably produced by an 
attempt to punish when the teacher's knowl- 
edge of the facts is incomplete or inaccurate. 
A child's sense of justice is very keen, and 
he should be made to feel always that his 
teacher, while he may make mistakes, intends 
to do what is kind and fair and right. When 
this sense of justice has been outraged, as 
it frequently is by thoughtless teachers, the 
usefulness of the school is greatly impaired. 
Confidence in the just and kind dealing of 
the teacher is the foundation of school ad- 
ministration. Arbitrary punishment for an 
unknown cause is a form of tyranny against 
which intelligent children always rebel. Let 
your pupils always understand that at the 
proper time you are always ready to explain 
kindly and firmly the reasons for what you 
have done, but do not argue or discuss the 
propriety of your actions; and, unless in 



10 PEACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

the wrong, do not recede from your posi- 
tion. No one is infallible, but, except the 
commission of an act of injustice, nothing 
is worse for a teacher than to have to aban- 
don before his class a position that he has 
deliberately assumed. 

Do not encourage one pupil to tell tales 
of another. Some children are untruthful, 
but it is usually bad policy to charge a child 
with untruthfulness and always so when you 
are not absolutely sure that he is intention- 
ally deceiving. Many a child has been 
startled into telling a lie when if he had 
been given a little time to think, he would 
have told the truth. Cultivate a high 
standard of truthfulness by all the means, 
direct and indirect, that you can. 

The efficiency of school work depends 
largely on good ventilation. When the air 
in a room is bad, children become uneasy 
and hard to manage. Modern school build- 
ings have ventilating shafts and open fire- 
places, so that plenty of fresh air can be had 
without draughts; but in an old-fashioned 
room, where the children are seated with 
their backs to the light, it is not easy^to get 



IN SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 11 

'fresh air without a draught on the back of 
the neck. The windows should be opened 
and the room filled with fresh air at recess, 
and, if necessary, the recitation should be 
occasionally stopped and the windows opened 
.for a few moments. With tact and com- 
mon sense this can be done without anyone's 
taking cold. When teacher and scholars 
are fresh and rested on Monday morning, 
all usually goes well; it is when both are 
tired out towards the close of a long day 
.that trouble may occur. 

Train your pupils to speak in sweet, dis- 
tinct tones of voice, not too loud nor too 
low, and set the example yourself. Many 
children have harsh strident voices that al- 
most make the listener shudder; by devot- 
ing special attention to such children, you 
will do them a life-long service. Children 
, should not interrupt a pupil who is reciting 
to ask to be excused, but should wait until 
he has finished. Make your scholars enter 
and leave the room without distracting the 
attention of the rest, stepping lightly on the 
ball of the foot, not walking on tiptoe. 
^Cheerful and thoughtful consideration of 



12 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

the smaller rights of others, give an added 
charm to life, and are as useful as any other 
subjects that may be taught at school. 

Do not allow your personal likes or dis- 
likes to become apparent. Like the rest of 
mankind, teachers cannot help being at- 
tracted by honest, straightforward ways and 
by winning manners, while idleness and ill- 
nature are always repellent. But avoid all 
appearance of vindictiveness in punishing, 
and make the bad boy feel that, while you 
understand and condemn his fault, yet you 
are personally really fond of him. Be severe 
to the offence, but kind and just to the 
offender. Children never respect nor like 
a teacher who does not control them, and 
the strictest, not the fussiest, teachers are 
often the most popular. A kind-hearted 
teacher will refuse a request or inflict a 
severe punishment in a way that will inspire 
in his pupils respect and affection, while a 
weak, ill-natured man will arouse contempt 
even when granting a favor. The example 
of a teacher who is a gentleman is more valu- 
able than his precept ; and nowhere do the 
kindly qualities which Lord Chesterfield 



IN SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 13 

called *' the graces " shine to better advant- 
age than in a schoolmaster. 

Loud and boisterous laughter should not 
be permitted; but when something really- 
amusing occurs let your scholars see that 
you enjoy it with them. In short, be hu- 
man; the prim, narrow-minded old-fash- 
ioned pedagogue should be as much a thing 
of the past as the stage coach. 

Eidicule, when used with skill and good 
humor, is a formidable weapon, and those 
who are unaffected by other punishment, 
are often keenly sensitive to it. If you can 
.avoid ill-nature and are sure that the rest of 
the class side with you, ridicule may occa- 
sionally be resorted to with advantage. Do 
not forget either that everyone likes to be 
appreciated, and that a word of kindly 
praise for good work is more powerful than 
blame for bad. This does not mean that 
you are to overwhelm the best pupil with 
compliments; it is the poor struggling dull 
fellow who cannot do very well even at the 
best who will brighten up when a kind 
word shows him that, though defective, his 
effort has been noted and appreciated. 



14 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

Genius in teaching is truly " infinite^ 
patience " and the wise teacher, when 
trouble occurs, will be quite as ready to ask 
himself, ' ' What mistake have / made ? " as 
to bewail the depravity of youth. 

Much good may be done if, without being 
familiar, you can take an interest in things 
that are of moment to your scholars outside 
the line of school work. Boys and girls are 
not well-drilled puppets, though false edu- 
cational notions sometimes make them ap- 
pear so. Freed from the restraint of school, 
children show qualities and capabilities that 
the teacher will not imagine, unless he 
specially studies this not very get-at-able 
side of his pupils' character. Such side 
lights are of great value in school work. 
The dull, uninteresting pupil, who does not 
know the difference between Austria and 
Australia, or X^ and 2X, viewed in the light 
of this outside observation often develops 
into a genius for natural history or music ; 
the boy who forgets his exercises or brings 
them in imperfectly prepared may have 
home environment which makes it impossi- 
ble for him to do better work. Five minutes 



IN SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 15* 

kindly talk with a lad before or after school 
about base-ball or stamp-collecting, or 
whatever his special fad may be, will fre- 
quently arouse an interest and enthusiasm 
in school work that no amount of keeping 
in or demerits could produce. 

The faculty of explaining clearly is one 
which few people possess. I knew an 
intelligent parent who tried to explain 
to his by no means deficient offspring the 
principles of long division. The father 
knew all about the subject, but his language 
was not clear and he told too much at once. 
The result was that the lad became confused, 
and after half an hour's hard work the un- 
happy parent gave up the attempt with the 
belief that his boy was a dunce. Cases 
such as this are by no means unusual in 
school. 

An experienced teacher once said to 
me, "I cannot get an idea into a boy's 
head unless I think it into him.''^ When the 
teacher merely repeats directions in a par- 
rot-like way, no result is produced ; the 
mental process must be gone through in 
both minds. Young teachers usually talk 



16 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

too much. Good teaching is not a mono- 
logue on the part of the teacher. In ques- 
tioning, ask the question first, and then call 
the name of the pupil who is to answer it. 
If he has been inattentive and does not know 
the question, call on some one else; but be 
patient, and give the dull boy time to think 
before harrying on to the bright one who 
has his hand up and knows all about it. 

ISTo problem in education more constantly 
confronts the teacher than that of preserving 
the proper balance between the bright and 
the dull members of a class, of providing 
work enough for the former without driving 
the latter to despair, and of keeping them 
both stimulated and alert. A lesson should 
-always be looked over by the teacher before 
it is assigned to the class, and a few words 
of advice and explanation as to how it should 
be studied will do much to make the home 
work easier. Take great care not to teach 
over the heads of your pupils. The average 
child is much more ignorant than is gener- 
.ally supposed ; his vocabulary is limited ; any 
word that is at all unusual he must be ex- 
pected not to understand ; in fact, it is 



IN SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 17 

sometimes well to go on the idea that chil- 
dren are ignorant of everything that they 
have not proved to you that they know. 

Instruction must be given in very small 
doses. After a little of the subject has been 
explained, stop and find out whether your 
explanation has been understood. When 
the first step is mastered, go on with the 
next, then go back and have the pupils give 
both steps, and so on, a little at a time, con- 
tinually reviewing from the beginning. 

Children should be made to express their 
ideas in good English, and should be asked 
to define in their own language the more 
unusual words as they occur. A frequent 
mistake is . defining one part of speech by 
another of kindred meaning, a noun by an 
adjective — malady means sick, for example. 
Like a motion to adjourn, the correction of 
bad English should always be in order what- 
ever the subject under consideration may be. 

The personal force of the individual is 
perhaps more strongly felt in teaching than 
in any other profession. All that a man is, 
all that culture and study have made him, 
concentrate themselves in his teaching, like 



18 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

the sun's rays passing through a burning 
glass. Some teachers make the dullest sub- 
ject blossom with interest, while others make 
the most interesting^one dry and tiresome. 
While I was a student at Yale, I was in- 
structed in two kindred subjects by profes- 
sors who illustrated this difference. Both 
were men of great ability and profound 
scholarship, but one of them did not have 
the faculty of imparting his learning. While 
reciting to him, topics which seemed as 
clear as day in the text-book, became hope- 
lessly obscured and surrounded with un- 
imagined difficulties ; the hour dragged 
wearily along while invisible hairs were be- 
ing split and impossible distinctions were 
being noted. The recitation of the other 
was a continual delight ; with his clear ex- 
planations the places became easy, the sub- 
ject developed interesting features which 
were made practical by a wealth of apt and 
well put illustrations, and the end of the 
hour found professor and student alike un- 
willing to leave the recitation. The conse- 
quence is that one professor's instruction 
will be a life-long pleasure and inspiration. 



IN SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 19 

while that of the other has long since been 
forgotten. One man was a teacher, the 
other was only a scholar. 

In order to make your teaching useful and 
interesting, you must be growing mentally 
yourself; and this growth is to be cultivated 
in two ways, neither of which must be dis- 
regarded. First, by observation of your 
work and its results, and by intelligent 
thought about it. Keep constantly study- 
ing how the efficiency of your school may 
be increased, but do not make changes with- 
out being well assured that they are advisa- 
ble. A teacher is always being discussed by 
pupils and parents ; so if in a kind but digni- 
fied way you can let the reason for your acts 
be understood, it will give you more sup- 
port at home and the efficiency of the school 
will be greatly increased by the cordial 
co-operation of the parents. You must not 
expect, however, to please everybody; and 
with parents who are unreasonable or dense, 
maintain your position politely but firmly. 
When a child hears his teacher criticised 
adversely by his parents, that teacher's use- 



20 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

fulness is, as far as lie is concerned, seriously 
impaired. 

The second way in which mental growth 
may be cultivated is by reading and study. 
A teacher should be familiar with the trend 
of the best educational thought, as shown 
by the best books on pedagogics, by school 
reports and by educational journals. Others 
are confronted by the same problems that 
you are, and you will derive great benefit by 
learning how they have solved them. When 
you hear of a book that you think you ought 
to read, if you have not the time for it at 
present, make a note of it; by so doing, 
when vacation comes, you will not be at a 
loss what to do, but will have a valuable 
list which can be studied. One of the great 
advantages of the teacher's profession is the 
large amount of time on Saturdays and in 
vacation which may be devoted to study and 
self-improvement ; and those who neglect 
such opportunities soon find that their 
places are filled by others who know more 
about the work. ^N'ever were teachers more 
interested in their profession, and never 
were skilled teachers more appreciated and 



IN SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 21 

better paid than now ; but on all sides it i& 
also said that there are teachers who have 
spent years in work and have never tried to 
improve themselves, and the sentiment is 
strong that such teachers must, in the in- 
terest of good teaching, give way to others 
who have been willing to study. And while 
we devote attention to the study of books 
and journals on teaching, we should also 
not disregard the thoughts of the world's 
best minds on other subjects. Whatever 
refines and cultivates the teacher, benefits 
the school. The teaching of those who de- 
rive their highest mental inspiration from 
the last new novel can never reach a very 
elevated standard of excellence. 



Practical Suggestions 



ON SUCCESS 



...BY... 



JAMES H. PENNIMAN 




SYRACUSE, N. Y. 

C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER 

1905 



Copyright, 190&, by C. W. Bardeen 



Some Suggestions on Success 

Wrong ideas of success are as common as 
they are disastrous. The success of a uni- 
versity, for instance, is usually measured by 
the number of its students, while it really 
consists in the impression stamped by its 
training on the characters of the men that 
it sends into the world. A similar mistake 
is to measure success by wealth ; some of the 
richest men have been wretched failures 
who have impoverished their souls and cheat- 
ed their fellow men. True success rests on 
two fundamental and interdependent prin- 
ciples — the first is Accomplishment and the 
second is Development. 

Accomplishment is what a man does to 
make the world better for his being in it, 
and Development consists in what he does 
and what men and circumstances do for him 
to enlarge, elevate, and improve his mind 
and soul, and make him better for having 

(25) 



26 SOME SUGGESTIOl^S 

been in the world. Accomplishment and 
Development are interdependent because no 
one can do any worthy work without there- 
by strengthening his faculties and lifting 
himself to a higher condition of manhood, 
nor can he elevate his thought and sweeten 
his life without increasing his practical value 
in the world. Phillips Brooks describes 
this union of accomplishment and develop- 
ment when he says : 

" Great is he who in some special voca- 
tion, as a soldier, a governor, a scientist, 
does good and helpful work for fellow-man. 
Greater still is he who, doing good work in 
his special occupation, carries within his 
devotion to it a human nature so rich and 
true that it breaks through his profession 
and claims the love and honor of his fellow 
men, simply and purely as a man." 

The fundamental principles upon which 
success depends are well-known, yet we see 
failures on every side due to an unwilling- 
ness to act in accordance with them. It is, 
therefore, of importance that they be re- 
peated again and again in many different 



ON SUCCESS 27 

ways, and that they be kept constantly in 
mind. 

Life is not a lottery ; luck is to a small 
extent an element of success. '' G-ood 
luck," said Lowell, '^ is the willing hand- 
maid of upright, energetic character, and 
conscientious observance of duty; " and he 
adds, " Solid success must be based on 
solid qualities and the honest cultivation of 
them." Men fail because they will not 
exert themselves or because they think that 
they can attain their objects by short cuts 
that could not be taken by others, but which 
unusual cleverness or peculiar circumstances 
justify them in taking. They forget that 
the results of the experience of the race as 
crystallized into its ideas of what should 
and what should not be done are infinitely 
wider than the experience of any one per- 
son, for they embody millions of experi- 
ences, and are extended over thousands of 
years. How presumptuous it is then for a 
man to set up his own ideas against the 
codified experiences of mankind; and yet 
ruinous experiments of this kind are con- 
stantly being made. 



28 SOME SUGGESTIONS 

Lowell tells us that, " Of all hopeless 
contests, the most hopeless is that which 
fools are most eager to challenge with the 
nature of things." 

" Experience is a dear school," said 
Franklin, *' but fools will learn in no 
other;" and Tennyson has put the same 
truth in another way by saying, " He who 
will not be ruled by the rudder must in time 
be ruled by the rock." 

Identify yourself with the permanent 
forces of the universe, and the stars in 
their courses will fight for you. " The 
winds and waves are always on the side of 
the ablest navigators," said Gibbon. 
'' Those who take honors in Nature's uni- 
versity," writes Huxley, *' who learn the 
laws which govern men and things and obey 
them, are the really great and successful 
men in this world. The great masses of 
mankind are the ' Poll ', who pick up just 
enough to get through without much dis- 
credit. Those who won't learn at all are 
plucked, and then you can't come up 
again." 

We can influence the course of events to 



ON SUCCESS 29 

but a small extent ; but by forethought we 
can adapt ourselves to circumstances in 
such a way as to make the most of them, 
and it is by taking advantage of circum- 
stances and improving opportunities that 
we become masters of our fates. ^' The 
power of self-management and turning one's 
circumstances to the best account is the 
hardest power in the world to acquire; 
half the wasted lives one sees are due to 
the want of it," says Matthew Arnold; and 
Sir Thomas More has compressed a large 
amount of wisdom in the following lines: 
" What part soever you have taken upon 
you, play that as well as you can and make 
the best of it. * * * Studye and en- 
deavour, as much as in you lyeth, to handle 
the matter wyttelye and handsomelye to the 
purpose, and that which you cannot turne 
to good, so to order that it be not very 
badde. For it is not possible for all things 
to be well unless all men were good, whych 
I think will not be yet this good many 
years." 

Life is a long experiment : the main thing 
is not to lose heart but to keep trying. As 



30 SOME SUGGESTIOl^S 

we proceed, our purposes and ideas modify. 
Every little while take an account of stock, 
and find out where you are and which way 
you are going. Think what you will be ten 
years from now. Have regard to future as 
well as to present success, look ahead, an- 
ticipate difficulties in order that you may 
provide means of meeting and overcoming 
them. Have a just sense of the relative 
importance of things. Think straight and 
see clear. When the necessity for a choice 
arises take time to examine the matter from 
many points of view do not hurry, be sure 
you are right. Twenty-four hours are not 
too much for the decision of any serious 
question. You will often look at the mat- 
ter in a different light after you have slept 
on it. The men who control the great rail- 
roads and banks are sober and deliberate 
thinkers, who do not make up their minds 
in a hurry. Of Abraham Lincoln it is said : 
" His judgment, like his perception, far 
outran the average mind. While others 
fumed and fretted at things that were, all 
his inner consciousness was abroad in the 
wide realm of possibilities, busily searching 



OK SUCCESS 31 

out the dim and difficult path toward things 
to be." ** His sagacity gave him a marked 
advantage over other men in enabling him 
to forecast probable events, and when they 
took place, his great caution restrained his 
comments and controlled his outward 
bearing." 

" Gradually see what kind of work you 
can do ; for it is the first of all problems for 
a man to find out what kind of work he is 
to do in this universe," said Carlyle; and 
the poet Gray remarked, '* To find one's 
self business, I am persuaded is the great 
art of life. * * * Some spirit, some 
genius more than common is required to 
teach a man how to employ himself." 

A question as important as the choice of 
a career should not be settled hastily. It 
requires time and thought to get acquainted 
with yourself, to find out what you can do 
and what you cannot do, and to ascertain 
by careful study in what direction your 
tastes and powers incline. *' If the genius 
of a man lies in the development of the in- 
dividual person that he is, his manhood lies 
in finding out by self-study what he is and 



32 SOME SUGGESTIONS 

what he may become, and in wisely using 
the means that are fitted to form and per- 
fect his individuality,'* wrote President 
Noah Porter. This self-study must be con- 
ducted without egotism, in all humility. 
** No man can produce great things," says 
Lowell, ** who is not thoroughly sincere in 
dealing with himself, who would not ex- 
change the finest show for the poorest 
reality, who does not so love his work that 
he is not only glad to give himself for it, 
but finds rather a gain than a sacrifice in 
the surrender." ** When the revelation of 
his own peculiar taste and capacity come to 
a young man, let him reverently give it 
welcome, thank Grod, and take courage. 
Thereafter he knows his way to happy en- 
thusiastic work, and, God willing, to use- 
fulness and success," writes President Eliot ; 
and he adds, '* For the individual, concen- 
tration and the highest development of his 
own peculiar faculty, is the only prudence. " 
" Let it be your satisfaction, the highest a 
man can have in this world, that the talent 
intrusted to you did not lie useless, but was 
turned to account, and proved itself to be 
a talent," said Carlyle. 



ON SUCCESS 33 

To have done your best is success, even 
though the result is not as great as a more 
gifted person might have achieved with less 
effort. You are not responsible for not 
having extraordinary abilities, but you are 
responsible for making the most of those 
you have. " Much of the good work of 
the world is the Work of dull men who have 
done their best, ' ' says Senator Hoar. * * Suc- 
cess in life consists in doing common things 
uncommonly well," writes John D. Rocke- 
feller. " No man ever rises to greatness 
in this world who does not aim at objects 
beyond his powers," says Froude in his life 
of Beaconsfield. " There never was any 
great and permanent good accomplished, 
but by hoping for and aiming at still greater 
and better," writes Sir John Herschel. 

While you are inquiring for your vocation 
be doing heartily the work which comes to 
hand and building a broad foundation on 
which to erect the super-structure of your 
chosen career. In your leisure moments be 
acquiring the knowledge that will be of use 
to you when called to more important work. 
Do with energy the best you are capable of 



34 SOME SUGGESTIOITS 

at the time. When you are worthily striv- 
ing you often meet with opportunities in 
ways of which you did not dream. " They 
are a growing kind of men that can wisely 
combine the two things; wisely and valiant- 
ly can do what is laid to their hand in their 
present sphere, and prepare themselves 
withal for doing other wider things, if such 
lie before them," wrote Carlyle. 

No young man can afford to wait for 
something to turn up; he should turn up 
something himself. When a man has made 
a reputation for work well done, the oppor- 
tunity will seek him. *' First the work- 
man is known for his work, afterwards the 
work for the workman ; but it is only the 
concise and perfect work which will last," 
said Tennyson. 

The main thing is to get an intelligent 
idea of what you wish to do and how you 
ought to do it, and then to keep steadily at 
it and let nothing turn you from your 
course. The ship does not go far at one 
revolution of the screw, but the screw keeps 
revolving, hour after hour, day and night, 
in sunshine and storm, till the long voyage 



ON" SUCCESS 35 

.s ended. Cecil said of Sir Walter Ralaigh, 
** I know that he can toil terribly," and 
President Eliot remarks of Dr. 0. W. 
Holmes that *' His temperment was viva- 
cious and his career brilliant; but at the 
foundation of his character lay a remarkable 
capacity for hard, conscientious, persistent 
labor." Michael Angelo, who certainly 
spoke with authority on the subject, said, 
** Genius is infinite patience." Garfield was 
no doubt thinking of this when he remarked 
to a graduating class: "I beseech you to 
remember that the genius of success is still 
the genius of labor. If hard work is not 
another name for talent, it is the best pos- 
sible substitute for it. In the long run, 
the chief difference in men will be found 
in the amount of work they do." Lowell 
wrote, ** Talents are absolutely nothing to 
a man except he have the faculty of work 
along with them," and he added, ** Nothing 
is to be gained by human powers, however 
transcendent, without paying for it man's 
price, toil." 

Men may be divided into two great classes, 
those who plan their work for themselves 



36 SOME SUGGESTIONS 

and those whose work is assigned to them 
by others ; and it is astonishing what a vast 
majority are included in the second class, 
which is that of the underlings who will do 
anything but think. Men with original 
ideas are as rare as white crows. Do not 
stay in a rut, doing the same thing over and 
over every day in the same way, but be con- 
stantly trying to do your work better than 
anyone else has ever done it. Xo man 
should be satisfied until he has made a per- 
manent contribution to the advancement of 
the world in the line of his chosen pursuit. 
" I hold every man a debtor to his profes- 
sion," said Bacon, *' from the which as men 
of course do seek to receive countenance 
and profit, so ought they of duty to en- 
deavor themselves by way of amends to be 
a help and ornament thereunto," and Presi- 
dent Wayland wrote, '* Every producer who 
labors in his art scientifically is the best of 
all experimenters ; and he is, of all men, the 
most likely, by discovery, to add to our 
knowledge of the laws of nature. He is, 
also, specially the individual most likely to 
invent the means by which those laws shall 



ON" SUCCESS 37 

be subjected to the service of man." 
There is great wisdom in keeping at work 
of permanent value, for when your work 
has merely a temporary interest, if you fail, 
you have gained nothing except experience ; 
but permanent work, if unsuccessful at 
first, can be improved and may in the end 
amount to something. Edison said that 
** The proper way for the would-be inventor 
to make progress in his learning is to set 
out to do a certain thing, and to read, study, 
and experiment on that one subject. In 
these days the domain of science is so broad 
that it is simply impossible for one man to 
acquire a universal knowledge of it. There- 
fore, let him take one sub-division of it, 
and paying no attention to the rest, let him 
devote his whole time to that." Newton 
thought that he differed from other men 
only by the habit which he had formed of 
keeping whatever he was studying constant- 
ly before his mind. 

To work to the best advantage a man 
must keep his mind and body in condition. 
'* The first requisite to success in life," 
said Herbert Spencer, *' is to be a good 



38 SOME SUGGESTIONS 

animal. " Success in business gained at the 
cost of health, or by the loss of higher 
ideals is failure. '' There is no achievement 
that you could make in the world that is 
equal to perfect health," wrote Carlyle. 
Many a man begins with a magnificent con- 
stitution and ruins it because he takes less 
care of himself than a sensible person would 
take of a horse, and, on the other hand, 
some of the world's best work has been 
done by those who, starting in life with an 
inheritance of weakness and disease, have 
wisely husbanded their scanty forces, and 
made the most of their little strength. 
" A strong frame is not, indeed, the inheri- 
tance of every man; but it is seldom that a 
wise and constant attempt to strengthen a 
weak one fails in its endeavors. I have 
known many a stooping and awkward youth 
become active, erect, and strong through a 
persistent determination to overcome his 
weaknesses. >!< * ^ Nature gives great 
strength to those who devote themselves to 
her cause, and responds readily to every 
intelligent and honest appeal to her life and 
health giving influences." 



01^ SUCCESS 39 

Be scrupulously clean; not only your 
health but, also, your standing in a com- 
munity depend largely on this one point. 
If you must economise, let your laundry bill 
be the last item to be curtailed. Many a 
boy has been kept in a subordinate position 
because he did not put on a clean collar 
every day. A cold bath every morning 
and a daily walk of three or four miles in 
the open air are powerful aids to the preser- 
vation of health; in fact, it is hardly too 
much to say that among adults more illness 
may be attributed to lack of proper exer- 
cise than to any other one cause. Exercise 
your arms and chest and back. Keep dumb 
bells and Indian clubs in your room and use 
them a few minutes night and morning. 
As far as possible take your amusements in 
the open air. Exercise is doubly valuable 
when it is a pleasure instead of a duty. 

G-et enough sleep ; when a man has been up 
late he is at a great disadvantage in doing 
the next day's work. Do not work at night 
if it can be avoided. An hour in the morn- 
ing is worth two in the afternoon. Do not 
go to bed with your brain filled with blood 



40 SOME SUGGESTION'S 

and your mind intent on the cares of the 
day; if you find yourself in this condition, 
take a brisk walk before turning in. Do 
not worry; leave your cares at the office. 

Breathe deeply ; fill your lungs with air. 
Many people keep in use only a small part 
of their lungs and are consequently in bad 
condition to resist colds and pneumonia, 
should they come. You can generally tell 
when you are taking cold, and there is great 
advantage in using promptly simple reme- 
dies for minor ailments like colds and head- 
aches, but do not get into the habit of con- 
tinually dosing yourself. Eat plain food, 
eat slowly and do not eat too much. You 
soon learn what you can eat and what disa- 
grees with you. A man should get as much 
work out of himself as he can without car- 
rying a balance of fatigue over to the next 
day, and it is because the amount of work 
is limited and life is short that it is import- 
ant that time and strength should be con- 
centrated, yet change of occupation is some- 
times the best rest. 

Thrift and thrive have the same deriva- 
tion. " The secret of thriving is thrift; " 



OK SUCCESS 41 

says Charles Kingsley, '' saving of force; to 
get as much work as possible done with the 
least expenditure of power, the least jar and 
obstruction, the least wear and tear." 

To know when one is overworked and 
needs a change of air and diet is a lesson 
which many intelligent people never learn, 
half the doctors would go out of business, 
if they did. A. short rest when the strain 
is felt, twenty-four hours at the seashore 
or in the country will do as much good as a 
month's vacation later on. Experience will 
show you how much recreation is necessary 
to keep your powers at their highest effi- 
ciency and leave a reserve of strength to 
meet an extraordinary emergency. Lack 
of physical force causes many failures. 
*' Of what we call genius energy is the most 
important part," says Mathew Arnold. The 
power to pull yourself together to meet 
great and unexpected difficulties when they 
arise is absolutely essential." "At the cri- 
sis of the battle both sides seemed defeated 
and whoever first assumed the offensive was 
sure to win," said Grant in discussing the 
actions at Fort Donelson and Shiloh. To 



42 SOME SUGGESTIONS 

fail again and again, to find out the cause 
of each failure, and, without dwelling on 
the past except to correct its errors, to move 
forward with an undaunted spirit must be 
the experience of everyone who would do 
anything worth doing. He who is ignorant 
of failure is ignorant of success. " Obsta- 
cles surmounted," said Dr. Andrew Pea- 
body, ** are always of immeasurable service. 
Obstacles are stumbling-blocks, fatal to him 
who stumbles upon them, enfeebling and 
discouraging to him who creeps round them ; 
while he who surmounts them, mounts upon 
them, and stands upon a higher plane." 
Great men make their failures the ladders 
by which they reach eminence over others 
who may have more ability but less perse- 
verance. " Many a lost battle has been 
victory to come," wrote Edward Thring, 
and he adds, " To be defeated and to go on 
the better for being defeated, is the highest 
thing that can happen to man." Peter the 
Great was defeated by the Swedes in a series 
of disastrous engagements, but he deter- 
mined that his enemies should teach him 
how to overcome them, and in the end he 



OK SUCCESS 43 

conquered because he knew how to profit by 
the lessons of defeat. Through an unfor- 
tunate investment Tennyson lost his for- 
tune, his career seemed blighted; but he 
highly resolved that '' it becomes no man 
to nurse despair but in the teeth of clenched 
antagonism to follow up the worthiest," 
and his biographer states that " He kept up 
his courage, profited by friendly and un- 
friendly criticism, and in silence, obscurity 
and solitude perfected his art," with the 
result that the world knows. Huxley was 
describing his own experience when he 
wrote, *' I can assure you that there is the 
greatest practical benefit in making a few 
failures early in life. You learn what is of 
inestimable importance — that there are a 
great many people in the world who are just 
as clever as you are. You learn to put your 
trust, by and by, in an economy and fru- 
gality of the exercise of your powers, both 
moral and intellectual ; and you very soon 
find out, if you have not found out before 
that patience and tenacity of purpose are 
worth more than twice their weight of clev- 
erness." If men of genius can do nothing 



44 SOME SUGGESTIONS 

without hard work and reverses, how much 
more must those toil who have only ordinary 
abilities. Do not expect to get on without 
long and painful effort and drudgery; weeds 
spring up in a night but valuable growth is 
slow. The main thing is to concentrate 
and to keep constantly at it, without haste 
and without rest. There is a great deal of 
consolation and support for a struggling 
young man in the following statements of 
Professor William James than whom there 
is no more competent authority on the sub- 
ject of mental processes: "As we became 
permanent drunkards by so many separate 
drinks, so we become saints in the moral, 
and authorities and experts in the practical 
and scientific spheres, by so many separate 
acts and hours of work. Let no youth have 
any anxiety about the upshot of his educa- 
tion, whatever the line of it may be. If he 
keeps faithfully busy each hour of the work- 
ing day, he may safely leave the final result 
to itself. He can with perfect certainty 
count on waking up some fine morning to 
find himself one of the competent ones of 
his generation, in whatever pursuit he may 



OK SUCCESS 45 

have singled out. Silently, between all the 
details of his business, the 'power of judging 
in all that class of matter will have built 
itself up within him as a possession that 
will never pass away. Young people should 
know this truth in advance. The ignorance 
of it has probably engendered more discour- 
agement and faint-heartedness in youths 
embarking on arduous careers than all other 
causes put together," and he adds, " The 
total mental efficiency of a man is the re- 
sultant of the working together of all his 
faculties. He is too complex a being for 
any one of them to have the casting vote. 
If any one of them does have the casting 
vote, it is more likely to be the strength of 
his desire and , passion, the strength of the 
interest he takes in what is proposed. Con- 
centration, memory, reasoning power, in- 
ventiveness, excellence of the senses, — all 
are subsidiary to this. No matter how 
scatter-brained the type of a man's succes- 
sive fields of consciousness may be, if he 
really care for a subject, he will return to it 
incessantly from his incessant wanderings, 
and first and last do more with it, and get 



46 SOME SUGGESTIONS 

more results from it, than another person 
whose attention may be more continuous 
during a given interval, but whose passion 
for the subject is of a more languid and 
less permanent sort. " ''There are more fail- 
ures due to want of patience and persever- 
ance than to any other cause in the world. 
That is my experience, which is not a short 
one," says Sir William Harcourt. " The 
secret of success is constancy to purpose," 
wrote Lord Beaconsfield. There is no fact 
in connection with this subject on which 
authorities agree fully than that success is 
won by the men who have the clear vision 
to see plainly what they wish to accomplish, 
and the force of character to concentrate 
all their energies on this one subject. 

The greatest pleasure is felt by those who 
are engaged in congenial work, which they 
feel is adding to the happiness of those 
around them. We cannot be happy without 
a definite purpose toward the attainment 
of which all our energies are bent. Carlyle 
calls work " The grand cure of all the 
maladies and miseries that ever beset man- 
kind — honest work, which you intend get- 



ON" SUCCESS 47 

ting done." Do not go on toiling blindly; 
have a purpose and a limit; set a definite 
task for yourself, and when it is accom- 
plished rest and recreate; make business 
your slave, do not be the slave of business. 
*' Whoever would be life's master, and not 
its drudge, must make it a means, and never 
allow it to become an end," wrote Lowell. 

" Never forget the everlasting difference 
between making a living and making a life, " 
said Governor W. E. Eussell; and Mrs. 
Alice Freeman Palmer emphasizes the same 
idea when she advises, '* to make life a 
glory instead of a grind." Life is not alto- 
gether a matter of dollars and cents. 
'' Your happiness in this world will come 
from what you are and not from what you 
own," said Senator Hoar. 

Every man should as a part of that edu- 
cation which it is his duty as well as his 
privilege to give himself, engage in some 
work for others. Take an active interest 
in church work, in good city government, 
or in a charity where you can do something 
for those who are unable to make return. 
For the lack of such cultivation of his bet- 



48 SOME SUGGESTIONS 

ter self, many a man finds, when he has 
gained a fortune, he has lost the power to 
enjoy his wealth. In his devotion to busi- 
ness he has neglected the imaginative and 
ideal sides of his nature. Use your leisure 
to cultivate a taste for the highest and best 
things. 

Be punctual in all your engagements; set 
a high value on your time. The only hon- 
orable averice has been said to be that of 
time. "Dost thou love life, ' ' wrote Frank- 
lin, " then do not waste time for that is the 
stuff life is made of," and again, " Leisure 
is time for doing something useful. " Make 
the most of scraps of time. You can com- 
mit to memory a beautiful poem or even 
learn a new language by studying while you 
are dressing and when you are travelling or 
waiting for trains. A few lines of the best 
poetry read or repeated daily give a lift to 
the spirit." 

The important things are perseverance 
and concentration. Self improvement de- 
pends more on will power than on money. 
It is said of Sir William Jones that, with 
the fortune of a peasant, he gave himself 



ON SUCCESS 49 

the education of a prince. Associate with 
the best minds in books and in the world. 
Do not read the first thing that comes to 
hand, but keep near you the books that 
are necessary for your development, and 
carry them with you when you go on a 
journey. Keep a note book and write down 
the beautiful thoughts you meet in your 
reading and the original ideas that occur 
to you, or put them on pieces of paper and 
sort them out into envelopes, according to 
subjects. Cultivate an appreciative sense 
of the beauties of nature. Go to hear the 
men who have accomplished something, 
when they make public addresses. You 
get an impression of the personality of a 
public man or of an explorer or author 
from hearing him talk, that you could 
never obtain from reading his books. Much 
valuable information may be picked up 
from the people you meet; no matter how 
humble a man may be, you can usually find 
some subject about which he knows more 
than you do. When you are no longer 
willing to learn, your usefulness is about at 
an end. But do not forget that '' Success 



50 SOME SUGGESTIONS 

in the world depends much more on energy 
than on information." '* The great end of 
life is not knowledge but action. What 
men need is as much knowledge as they 
can assimilate and organize into a basis for 
action; give them more and it may become 
injurious," wrote Huxley. 

Get the habit of accomplishing things; 
the world does not wish excuses, it requires 
results. In Nicolai and Hay's Life of Lin- 
coln it is said of General Grant that " His 
usefulness and superiority were evinced by 
the clearness and brevity of his correspond- 
ence, the correctness of routine reports and 
promptness of their transmission, the per- 
tinence and practical quality of his sugges- 
tions, the readiness and fertility of expedi- 
ent with which he executed orders. Any- 
one reading over his letters of this first 
period of his military service is struck by 
the fact that through him something was 
always accomplished. There was absence 
of excuse, complaint, or delay; always the 
report of a task performed. If his means 
or supplies were imperfect, he found or im- 
provised the best available substitute; if he 



OK SUCCESS 51 

could not execute the full requirement, he 
performed so much of it as was possible. 
He always had an opinion, and that opinion 
was positive, intelligible, practical. We 
find therefore that his allotted tasks from 
the first continually rose in importance. 
He gained in authority and usefulness not 
by solicitation or intrigue but by services 
rendered." 

*' He that would make himself better, 
must learn to keep himself over against 
himself as his own master, repressing the 
evil and educing and encouraging the good," 
wrote President Noah Porter. The forma- 
tion of good habits calls for constant effort, 
watchfulness and a strong will ; each victory 
makes the next more sure; each failure 
makes it easier to fail. This truth is so im- 
portant that it needs to be repeated again 
and again. '' But how are habits formed ? 
Not by a mere resolution or purpose, not 
by a single effort or by a series of fitful 
efforts, but by repeated and continuous ac- 
tivity. Every act of the soul leaves as an 
enduring result an increased power to act 
again in like manner, and every repetition 



52 SOME SUGGESTIONS 

of an act increases this power and tendency. 
When this resulting tendency becomes so 
strong that an act is repeated without con- 
scious voluntary effort, the result is called 
a habit." ** Habits of action are formed 
through repetition. Every act leaves in the 
mind a tendency to repeat that action and 
added power to act in that direction. So 
every right choice helps to develop the habit 
of right choosing; every act of obedience 
tends to strengthen the habit of obedience ; 
every exercise of self-control results in 
greater power of self command." '^ Sow 
an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit 
and you reap a character; sow a character, 
and you reap a destiny." 

Be scrupulously careful with regard to 
pecuniary obligations both small and large. 
There are few ways in which a man shows 
what he really is more plainly than in his 
management of money matters. However 
small your income, save part of it and in- 
vest your savings securely. A few may have 
become rich by wild speculation, but the 
majority of persons in comfortable circum- 
stances have made a wise disposition of their 



ON" SUCCESS 53 

honest earnings and have lost little through 
bad investments. Peace of mind is better 
than wealth. Never speculate or gamble; 
give full value for what you receive. Shun 
debt as you would the plague. Pay cash; 
if you cannot pay cash, do not buy. Buy 
reliable goods; what is not of good quality, 
what will not wear, is never cheap. Nothing 
is more vulgar than cheap finery. Do not 
buy what you do not need simply because 
you can get it at a low figure. There are 
times of the year, especially in January and 
July, when goods may be bought for less 
than their real value. You can buy a win- 
ter overcoat in January for about half what 
it costs in November, but you must be a 
judge of quality and buy of reliable dealers. 

Selfishness and self-indulgence are re- 
sponsible for most of the wasted lives. The 
great majority of those who fail do so be- 
cause their work is not their chief interest 
in life ; they care more for pleasure and are 
not willing to give that thoughtful atten- 
tion to details which is the price of success. 
'' Pleasure is far sweeter as a recreation than 
as a business," remarked Roswell D. Hitch- 



54 SOME SUGGESTIOKS 

cock. When you have a chance to make a 
choice between a higher and a lower form 
of amusement or business, choose the higher. 
Life is made up of choices and on the result 
of such selections everything depends. You 
cannot always choose your business, but you 
can choose your pleasures ; let them be of 
a right character. 

" Nothing commends a young man so 
much to his employers as accuracy and 
punctuality in the conduct of business," 
says Professor Blackie. 
'* In life's small things be resolute and great 

To keep thy muscles trained. Know'st 
thou when Fate 

Thy measure takes or when she'll say to 
thee 

I find thee worthy, do this thing for me ? " 

Be orderly; keep things where you can 
find them. Much valuable time is lost look- 
ing for things, when, if you put them where 
they belong in the first place, you could 
have laid your hand on them at once. Keep 
things of a kind together. Have a set of 
big envelopes for subjects you are interested 
in, and when you make clipping from the 



OK SUCCESS 55 

newspaper or take a note from a book, file 
it in the appropriate place. 

Be reliable ; keep your promises in small 
things as well as great. How many men do 
you know who would be absolutely sure to 
return a borrowed article at the time they 
promised ? The ability to write a neat, 
well-spelled letter, saying exactly what you 
mean, so that there is no possibility of mis- 
take, is a great help to success. 

Think of what you are going to do, but 
do not talk too much about it, and do not 
discuss your affairs with strangers or with 
those whom they do not concern. Call peo- 
ple by their names and look them in the 
face. Speak in gentle, clear, distinct tones. 
Do not mumble, do not talk too loud, do 
not drum or wiggle. To pay attention and 
to listen intelligently are polite accomplish- 
ments. 

People are very likely to treat you as you 
treat them. 

In his autobiography Robert Houdin, the 
celebrated conjurer, speaks of the imitative 
qualities of an audience: " If you are ner- 
vous, restrained, ill at ease, if your face has 



56 SOME SUGGESTIOlli'S 

a disagreeable expression, your audience 
will at once imitate the contraction of your 
features, will frown, become severe and ap- 
pear disposed to be unfavorable to you. 
But if on the other hand you go on the 
stage smiling, the most sober face will light 
up, each one seems to say to the performer, 
* Good day. Sir, your face pleases me. I am 
only waiting for an opportunity to applaud 
you.' " 

Cheerfulness is the oil that lubricates the 
machinery of life. A readiness to give and 
receive small courtesies and brightens every 
thing around us. By borrowing a book 
from a man who disliked him and returning 
it promptly and politely, Franklin made a 
friend out of an enemy. Always say please 
and thank you, to servants as well as to oth- 
ers. Lord Chesterfield wrote, " He who 
tries to please will please, and he who 
pleases, in general, can do whatever he 
wishes." " Many a man ", writes Sir John 
Lubbock, '' has owed his outward success 
in life far more to good manners than to 
any solid merit; while, on the other hand, 
many a worthy man with a good heart and 



OK SUCCESS 57 

kind intentions, makes enemies merely by 
the roughness of his manner. To be able 
to please is, moreover, itself a great pleas- 
ure. Try it, and you will not be disap- 
pointed;" and he adds, " Business is a mat- 
ter of sentiment and feeling far more than 
many suppose ; everyone likes being treated 
with kindness and courtesy, and a frank, 
pleasant manner will often clinch a bargain 
more effectually than, a half per cent." 
Though a cheerful face and an attractive 
manner are powerful aids to success these 
graces must be backed up by sturdy resolu- 
tion, common sense, and decision of charac- 
ter. But it makes a great difference how 
these strong qualities are exercised. Of a 
great man it was said that he could refuse 
a request more gracefully than others could 
grant one. 

Be liberal and fairminded. Eecognize 
the rights of others and get in the habit of 
working with them without friction. Do 
not allow prejudices against a man to inter- 
fere with a full appreciation of his good 
qualities. One of the most useful faculties 
in life is that of getting along with queer 



58 SOME SUGGESTIONS 

and unreasonable people. It takes tact and 
patience to manage them. 

Be independent and self-reliant, but do 
not be aggressiyely so. A great deal de- 
pends on knowing what a righteous indig- 
nation is. *' Tl^ere is a point," says Lowell, 
*' where the meekness of the lamb degener- 
ates into sheepighness." But do not be too 
easily irritated when people do not do as 
you think they should. *' Be patient with 
those manners around thee thou canst not 
cure. ' ' Cultivat^e the habit of self-restraint, 
do not harbor grudges, and be careful not 
to say cutting things because they seem 
bright or witty. '* The first lesson that a 
young man has to learn is not to find fault 
but to perceive beauties," says Professor 
Blackie. If you have an illnatured thought, 
do not utter it; the mind gets an added im- 
pression when a thought is put in words. 
** The highest stage in moral culture at 
which we can arrive is when we recognize 
that we 'ought to control our thoughts. * 
* * Whatever makes any bad action fa- 
miliar to the mind, renders its performance 
so much the easier," wrote Darwin. Get in 



oif SUCCESS 59 

the way of respecting men and their mo- 
tives and of speaking kindly of them. Do 
not allow yourself to be a cynic. If you 
must criticise, let your criticism be con- 
structive rather than destructive. Do not 
engage in useless controversies; avoid dis- 
cussions on religion and politics, especially 
in mixed assemblages. Everyone has his 
own ideas on those subjects, and these ideas 
can rarely be changed by argument. Many 
men of ability have their work impaired 
and their lives soured because they quarrel 
when they think that their rights have been 
in the slightest degree infringed, and so 
waste their strength on unprofitable contro- 
versies in each of which they may be tech- 
nically right; How much such men would 
gain if they followed the principle of Fara- 
day, who thought that ^'As a general rule it 
was better to be a little dull of apprehension 
when phrases seemed to imply pique, 
and quick in perception, on the contrary, 
when they seemed to imply kindly feeling." 
^0 one can work to the best advantage un- 
less he has a good disposition. '* I hope 
you have the elements of happiness in your- 



60 SOME SUGGESTIONS 

self, good temper, good sense, courage, un- 
selfishness — not too sanguine expectations 
from man, but a full confidence in God," 
wrote Guizot. Even when things are at 
their worst do not neglect that union of 
self-respect and consideration for others 
which is the happy result of good breeding 
and a kind heart. It was in the midst of 
the horrors of that terrible Arctic winter on 
the Jeannette that Lieutenant De Long 
wrote, ** For myself, I am doing all I can 
to make myself trusted and respected, and 
I think I succeed. I try to be gentle but 
firm in correcting anything I see wrong, 
and always calm and self-possessed." Field- 
ing gave us an unerring test of good breed- 
ing when he wrote, '' First, That every per- 
son who indulges his Illnature or Vanity at 
the expense of others; and in introducing 
Uneasiness, Vexation, and Confusion into 
Society, however exalted or high titled he 
may be, is thoroughly ill-bred ; and Second, 
That whoever from the Goodness of his 
Disposition or Understanding, endeavors to 
his utmost to cultivate the Good-humor and 
Happiness of others and to contribute to 



ON SUCCESS 61 

the Ease and Comfort of his Acquaintances, 
however low in Rank Fortune may have 
placed him, or however clumsy he may be 
in his Figure or Demeanor, hath in the tru- 
est sense of the Word a claim to Good- 
Breeding." 

Be worthy of confidence. Study men and 
know on whom to depend. The reliance 
which men have in men is what makes civ- 
ilization possible. When men lose confi- 
dence in each other the return to barbar- 
ism is inevitable. Sherman wrote to Grant, 
** When you have completed your best 
preparations, you go into battle without 
hesitation, as at Chattanooga — no doubts, 
no reserve; and I tell you that it was this 
that made us act with confidence. I knew 
wherever I was that you thought of me, 
and if I got in a tight place you would 
come — if alive." The leaders of men have 
accomplished their work, not only because 
they could toil themselves, but because they 
could select reliable and able men to work 
for them. The power of controlling and 
managing strong minded men, of getting 
along with them without friction, of calling 



62 SOME SUGGESTION'S 

out their best efforts, and of planning and 
organizing work, is what makes success in 
great undertakings. No one can read the 
Memoirs of General Grant without realiz- 
ing that his achievements were largely due 
to his knowledge of men and to his ability 
to select the right man for the place. 
Where it was possible he personally saw his 
subordinate officer, and with a full knowl- 
edge of the situation gave his instruction 
face to face. 

Another phase of the same faculty is the 
power which Grant constantly exercised of 
putting himself in the place of the general 
opposing him, and of divining his adver- 
sary's plans by imagining what he himself 
would do, if he were in the same position. 

Cultivate your old and reliable friends. 
Associate with the best people. No fact is 
more evident in the biographies of great 
men than that wherever they went they 
sought out and cultivated the society of 
those who were most worthy. But do not 
be so much occupied with your own affairs 
that you have no time for a kind and help- 
ful word for those who are struggling be- 



ON SUCCESS 63 

neath you. Have right principles of action, 
and do not deviate from them. You can- 
not conduct a great business by making 
special rules for each emergency as it arises, 
nor can you manage a life in this way. Be 
sincere, be kind, be truthful. Do not win 
a present advantage by a questionable trans- 
action, not merely because it is bad policy 
in the long run, as it surely is, but because 
it is not right. Many men of great ability 
miss success because their talents are not 
sustained by character. Do not think you 
can do something you are ashamed of in 
one place and not have it known in another. 
The world is very small; you hardly ever 
meet a stranger who does not know people 
that you know. But this is not the princi- 
pal reason, the important thing is the result 
on your character. What you are is written 
on your face or in your manner. 

The respect and confidence of the com- 
munity in which you live are of great assist- 
ance in life, but a man should have the 
courage of his convictions and there are 
times when a brave man must stand alone 



64 SOME SUGGESTIOIS'S 

and battle for the right against popular 
prejudice, exclaiming with Banquo: 

** In the great hand of God I stand; and 
thence 
Against the undivulged pretence I fight 
Of treasonous malice." 

Few have had better opportunities for 
observation than General Sherman, and in 
his Memoirs he has given this definition of 
courage: " All men naturally shrink from 
pain and danger, and only incur their risk 
from some higher motive, or from habit; so 
that I would define true courage to be a 
perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, 
and a mental willingness to incur it, rather 
than that insensibility to danger of which 
I have heard far more than I have seen. 
The most courageous men are generally 
unconscious of possessing the quality ; there- 
fore, when one professes it too openly, by 
words or bearing, there is reason to mistrust 
it. I would further illustrate my meaning 
by describing a man of true courage to be 
one who possesses all his features and senses 
perfectly when serious danger is actually 
present. 



01^ SUCCESS 65 

Goethe has summed up a great deal of 
wisdom in the following lines which are 
translated by Mrs. Huxley: 

*' Wouldst shape a noble life ? Then cast 
N'o backward glances toward the past ; 
And though somewhat be lost and gone, 
Yet do thou act as one new-born. 
What each day needs, that shalt thou ask ; 
Each day will set its proper task. 
Give others' work just share of praise; 
Not of thine own the merits raise, 
Beware no fellow man thou hate: 
And so in Gods hands leave thy fate." 













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